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Not your grandfather’s golf cart

RIT President Bill Destler has modified his “Green Vehicle Challenge” into an electric-vehicle drag race at this year’s Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival. Fifteen teams will put their hot rods to the test in a 100-meter race. The racetrack will run through G and H lots and kick off the festival at 9 a.m. May 5. The sole energy source for the vehicles must be from an electric chemical battery. Vehicles must not be constructed from the chassis of a commercial vehicle but can contain various components from a commercial vehicle.

Destler wants the race to dispel the myth that electric vehicles are “glorified golf carts” and he wants to “encourage our community to look into alternative transportation concepts that would be greener and could potentially reduce our dependence on imported oil.” Go to www.rit.edu/imagine to learn more about the festival and nearly 400 exhibits. (In this photo, Matt Campbell and Mark Kimble of Information and Technology Services work on their electric drag race car.)